I feel like a blacksmith banging out horseshoes by hand – each shoe a word being hammered into something a horse could comfortably wear. Deep into my rewrite, I reached a structural impasse this week that took me three days to resolve, and I’m sharing the process of solving the problem to hopefully save you some heavy lifting if you find yourself stuck at a similar spot.
The problem was that the story suddenly came to a standstill at the end of act 1, and lost its rhythm. I created a new outline and saw that there were three events out of order. This was why I wasn’t getting the momentum I needed, bit couldn’t see an obvious “fix.”
The problem events:
Event #1
My main character returns from a trip and has new insights about the past relationship she’s still mourning that offer an exit door from her grief.
Event #2
She has a writing project stolen, leaving her with nothing.
Event #3
She reconnects with the past relationship with a negative result.
I originally ordered them this way but wasn’t getting the “juice” I needed. I stared at the outline for a while (two days) with no success, and then broke down and reread part of my book, The Four Magic Questions of Screenwriting. The book suggests a different way to order a movie plot using character as the compass.
I tried reordering the story events in this way:
Event #1
My main character returns from a trip and has new insights about the past relationship she’s still mourning.
Event #3
She reconnects with the past relationship with a negative result.
Event #2
She has a writing project stolen, leaving her with nothing.
By reversing #3 and #2, I solved the problem, and the story burst back to life.
By having the main character in a weakened state when her project is stolen, the next part (Act 2, part 2) has the drive it needs to carry her to where she gets another chance with a new project.
This insight cost me three days of making horseshoes, and I’m retired.
“What?” You might ask.
No, just joking – I was tired yesterday, and I’m tired today.
As always, thrilled to share the latest episode of JOS 98, and remember laughter is the cure for anything that ails you!
Here’s to your successful writing,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
